The Zabriskie Tenant House was a historic house of the

American colonial architecture American colonial architecture includes several building design styles associated with the colonial period of the United States, including First Period English (late-medieval), French Colonial, Spanish Colonial, Dutch Colonial, and Georgian. T ...

style called Dutch Colonial on Dunkerhook Road in

Paramus Paramus ( Waggoner, Walter H ''The New York Times'', February 16, 1966. Accessed October 16, 2018. "Paramus – pronounced puh-RAHM-us, with the accent on the second syllable – may have taken its name from 'perremus' or 'perymus,' Indian for ...

, in

Bergen County Bergen County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of New Jersey.New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, United States, adjacent to the

Saddle River County Park Saddle River County Park is a county park in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, stretching from Ridgewood to Rochelle Park, and extends out to Glen Rock. The park is located along the Saddle River and consists of five sections, all o ...

. The Zabriskie family, who farmed much of the area to the east of the

Saddle River (Passaic River) The Saddle River flows south through much of Bergen County, New Jersey. The river runs through densely populated suburban areas for much of its course. The river takes its name from the river near Saddell in Argyll and Bute in Scotland. The hea ...

, built the home to house their domestic workers. It was one of the few structures left in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

directly related to free African American communities in the state, and was a remnant of an African American Dunkerhook community that (until the early 20th century) included several homes and an A.M.E. Church. The house was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

on July 24, 1984. Developers Sal and Marcello Petruzella made a proposal to demolish the house and subdivide the land for the development of larger stylized houses with no reference to the historical community. In spite of the house's listing on the

, the

New Jersey Register of Historic Places The New Jersey Register of Historic Places is the official list of historic resources of local, state, and national interest in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The program is administered by the New Jersey's state historic preservation office within ...

, and Paramus's own listing of historic resources, the Paramus Planning Board approved the demolition in late April, 2011, and the house was scheduled to be demolished in June, 2011. Preservation New Jersey, the state's historic preservation advocacy group, put the house on its 2012 Most Endangered Historic Properties List. Local historians and preservationists, including Peggy Norris, Ted Manvell, and H. Michael Gelfand, worked out a plan to move the house to

Bergen Community College Bergen Community College is a public community college in Bergen County, New Jersey. It was founded in 1965 and opened in 1968. , it is the largest community college in the state, with sites in Paramus, Hackensack, and Lyndhurst and 13,352 stu ...

for an educational

adaptive reuse Adaptive reuse refers to the process of reusing an existing building for a purpose other than which it was originally built or designed for. It is also known as recycling and conversion. Adaptive reuse is an effective strategy for optimizing the o ...

. This plan was supported by the County's Board of Chosen Freeholders, the Bergen County Executive, and the administration of

. The college's campus was also a part of the Zabriskie landholdings, and began to draw up plans for the placement of the house and its use in an educational function. The county was in the process of petitioning the state for funds to move and rehabilitate the structure when on July 13, 2012, the developers Sal and Marcello Petruzella demolished the Zabriskie Tenant House. The demolition was a significant loss for the future understanding of the history of Dutch agricultural settlers in the 17th and 18th centuries, African Americans as slaves and freed peoples in New Jersey, and the rural nature of Bergen County that gave way to the massive suburban development after World War II. The house was of a similar plan as the Naugle House, across the Saddle River in the Borough of Fair Lawn, which utilized open space funds to purchase the Naugle House. The Borough of

failed to make such an effort, but in 2013 seated a Historic Preservation Commission to prevent the loss of other historic resources in the borough. That commission, however, was never legally empowered or given voice in borough decisions and so has had no positive impact on historic preservation in a construction-friendly municipality.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey Houses in Bergen County, New Jersey Paramus, New Jersey New Jersey Register of Historic Places Demolished buildings and structures in New Jersey Buildings and structures demolished in 2012

See also

References